The invention concerns a sorption cooling element with a regulator organ and with a gas-tight multi-layer film for cooling wherein by vapourising a working agent and subsequent sorption of the working agent vapour in a sorption agent under vacuum cold is produced. At the same time the evaporator has a flexible construction to enable to adjust it to suit various cooling tasks.
Sorption cooling elements are devices, in which a solid adsorption agent in the form of vapour sorbs a second agent, the working agent, which boils at lower temperatures while releasing heat (sorption phase). In doing so the working agent is evaporated in an evaporator while taking up heat. Once the adsorption agent is saturated, it can be again desorbed at higher temperature by heat input (desorption phase). At the same time working agent evaporates from the adsorption agent. The working agent vapour can be reliquefied and subsequently evaporated again.
Adsorption devices for cooling with solid sorption agents are known from EP 0 368 111 and DE-OS 34 25 419. Sorption agent containers, filled with sorption agents, draw off the working agent vapour emerging in an evaporator and sorb it while releasing heat. At the same time the sorption heat has to be removed from the sorption agent. The cooling devices can be used for cooling food and keeping it hot in thermally insulated boxes.
WO 01/10738 A1 describes a self-cooling beverage can wherein the evaporator is provided within and a sorber outside of the can. The cooling is started by opening a vapour channel between the evaporator and the sorber. The cold, produced in the evaporator, is transferred over its surface to the beverage to be cooled inside the can. The heat emerging in the sorption agent is stored in a heat buffer. The self-cooling beverage can is strongly modified in comparison with a conventional can and is expensive to produce.
Further, more theoretical configurations of self-cooling barrels are compiled in WO 99/37958 A1. None of the devices can be cost-effectively materialized and manufactured.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,474,100 B1 describes a self-cooling cooling element on the exterior of a bag for liquids or loose goods. On this occasion the sorption agent is enclosed in a flexible, multi-layer film. The contact with the hot sorption fill is reduced to a minimum by insulating and flow materials as well as by heat-storing masses situated between them. The temperature equalization between the hot sorber fill and the cold evaporator, which lie against one another with a large surface, has to be reduced by using an elaborate insulation.
DE 10 2005 034297 A1 describes a sorption cooling element with a gas-tight film wherein a sorption agent is filled in a gas-tight bag for the sorption agent, that for the purpose of starting the cooling function is cut by a cutting tool. A control of the cooling capacity is thus impossible.